Tales from the Sounding Board
by Ari 347
Summary: As leader, Shiro generally has to give advice. But this wasn't quite the advice he'd thought he would have to give - especially when it was romantic advice to two halves of a couple.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** So, my friend decided to introduce me to the Voltron fandom a few weeks ago (right at the beginning of finals!) and I've been hooked ever since! The characters are just awesome and I found myself with the urge to write some oneshots. What I might do, if there's enough interest, is do the same here as I did with my story Discovery - keep writing one- or two shots for Voltron.

Enjoy!

* * *

Shiro watched his brother interact with the other three paladins through narrowed eyes. It seemed that despite the year since he'd seen him, the teen was just as clueless as he had been before. It was becoming increasingly obvious to everyone on the ship, human, Altean, or mouse, that Lance had feelings for Keith. The blue paladin found every opening to flirt with the red one, but the other never noticed.

It had started almost immediately after they'd boarded the ship. At first, it appeared that the two paladins were constantly arguing, never agreeing on anything. If the two were in a room together, there was definitely shouting coming from it. But then Shiro began to notice the little things.

One of Keith's worst habits was that he would often get lost in his own mind. If whatever was going on around him bored him, or he wasn't part of a conversation, his mind would drift. Every time Lance noticed the dark-haired teen's eyes unfocus, he would take it upon himself to annoy him. Sure, it drove Keith crazy, but it also forced him to socialize with the other paladins, something he wouldn't do of his own volition. Shiro worried that it was because Keith had been living alone after being kicked out of the Garrison (which they still _needed_ to have a conversation about).

But that wasn't all. If Lance noticed that Keith had been up on the training deck for too long, he would take it upon himself to get up there and drag the red paladin downstairs to the group, or at the very least, out of the room. That generally made Keith…rather explosive, at first. Then Lance began to strategize: he would go upstairs and train _with_ him, which would get Keith aggravated, which in turn would make him storm off. It made him sulk for a bit, but it also meant he wasn't covered in bruises.

Either of these things could have simply indicated that Lance was trying to ensure that the team was…well, a team. He did the same for Pidge and Hunk. For Pidge, he would bring her food when she worked late into the night and through meals. For Hunk, he would be there when the stress became too great. Even for Shiro, he had something: somehow the blue paladin always knew just what he needed to hear. But Keith…Keith was different. What brought Lance's feelings to Shiro's attention was a conversation he'd overheard between the two in the showers by the training deck.

The pair had been changing into their clothes, towels around their waists. Keith turned his back to Lance to reach for his clothes when it happened.

"See, what you need to – Keith!"

"What?!" The red paladin twisted his head to look at his back. "What is it?"

"You – " Lance pressed a hand to his back, just above a purpling bruise. From his vantage point hidden from the teens, Shiro winced. It looked like Keith had taken quite a blow, and he was surprised the ribs beneath weren't broken. "You're hurt! Badly!"

Keith finally had the brains to stand in front of the mirror and craned his head over his shoulder. "It's not that bad," he commented before reaching for his boxers.

"Not…not bad?! What are you talking about?" The blue paladin grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him once, hard. Shiro held back a relieved sigh that the towel didn't fall. The one time he had seen his brother naked was more than enough, and he was pretty sure Keith would flip if he was nude in front of Lance. "You've got a bruise the size of my hand on your back and it's _not bad_?!"

"Let go of me!" Shoving the other teen away, Keith grabbed his clothes in his hands and glared. "I know what I'm doing, I'm fine! I don't need you to worry about me! Worry about the rest of the team, but not me!" With that, he stormed off in the direction of his room. Shiro shoved himself farther into his hiding place to keep from being seen.

Lance stared after him with a forlorn look in his eyes, something Shiro had never seen before. "But I want to worry about you," he whispered quietly.

It was then that Shiro realized there was something between the blue paladin and his brother.

 **VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

Shiro looked up in surprise as Pidge sat down at the table in front of him. "You need to do something about Lance," she said without introduction. "He's driving me and Keith insane, and if your idiot brother doesn't realize that Lance is flirting with him I'm going to punch his stupid face."

It took him a moment to register everything his best friend's sister just said. "Wait, you know?"

"Know what?" Pidge pushed her – well, Matt's – glasses up her nose. "That Keith's your brother? A, you look alike, b, Matt told me. That Lance is into Keith? I'm not an idiot. Hunk, Allura, and Coran also noticed it. If he doesn't cool it down, someone's going to deck him. There's a betting pool going on who it'll be. My money's on Keith."

"I agree with you on that," Shiro replied absently. He thought he'd simply been more observant. If even Pidge, who had always been a bit of a tomboy, saw what Lance was doing, then maybe it was just Keith who was oblivious. "So…everyone knows?"

"I just said that, yeah, everyone knows. Well, except Keith." She shook her head. "Anyway. This is me giving you a warning that even though I bet that Keith is going to punch Lance before the rest of us, I also wanted to warn you that everyone's money is on me punching Keith within the next few days."

The black paladin watched open-mouthed as the girl stalked away, her Galra-robot at her shoulder. Sometimes he couldn't believe that she was Matt's sister. The siblings couldn't be more different.

It looked like he would have to speak with his brother, unless he wanted to deal with the team devolving into punching each other. As team leader, he couldn't have that.

 **VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

It seemed that luck was on his side today. At dinner, Lance kept to his previous Keith annoyances – the usual riling him up, slightly snarky remarks, nothing overly flirtatious. Pidge raised an eyebrow at him, but Shiro shook his head. He hadn't had a chance to speak to either paladin. Whatever was going on with Lance was being done of his own volition.

Later that night, Shiro found himself alone in his room. Being on a spaceship with just the seven of them was enough to drive anyone berserk, and sometimes he found himself holing himself up in his room to get away from everyone. For some reason, the training deck seemed to become very popular whenever he tried to go there for peace and quiet, so by now he'd learned to just go to his room.

He was lying on his bed reading on a tablet Pidge had lent him when there was a knock at the door. "Come in," he called, sitting up.

To his surprise, it was Lance at the door. The blue paladin rarely came to him to talk. "What's up?"

"I…I was wondering if I could talk to you about…about Keith," Lance asked awkwardly. For once he looked nervous, twisting his hands behind his back. "I know you're brothers and – "

His mouth dropped. "How do you – Does everyone know?"

"Pidge mentioned it before." He waved away Shiro's surprise absently. "I don't know if you've noticed, but I've been trying to…to get him to notice me – "

"Lance, _everyone_ knows you've been trying to get him to notice you. Well, everyone except Keith."

Now it was Lance's turn to look surprised. "Really?"

"You've been pretty obvious about the whole thing." Shiro crossed his leg beneath him and patted his bed. "Sit. I think you'll be here for a bit. What's the problem?"

"I've been trying to get him to notice me for weeks! Nothing I do seems to work," Lance burst out.

The black paladin blinked. This was a side he'd never seen before. Lance was usually enthusiastic, no frustrated like this. "What do you mean?"

"I've tried making sure he takes care of himself. You know, eating, drinking, not training until he's one big black-and-blue mark." He shook his head and collapsed onto the bed. "Then I tried talked to him. I tried to get some more information, be friendly. That just made him even more angry. I don't know what else to do!"

"The first thing you should do is calm down. You're not doing anything wrong." Shiro thought for a moment, trying to find the right words to say to the teen. He wanted to help, he did, but he had to be careful with what he said. "Keith is just…a bit unaware of these things. He doesn't talk about himself very much, and he's not used to people worrying about him. He wouldn't realize you're flirting with him unless you make it very obvious."

"How much more obvious can I be?!" Lance spread his hands. "I've done everything but kiss him! Or strip in front of him…maybe that could work…"

Shiro felt his face turn red. "No. Both of those ideas will just make him more uncomfortable. Just…maybe start small? I know there isn't really anywhere to go as a real date, but perhaps you two can have a meal together? You can also try to just ask him on a date. That should be obvious enough."

"Yeah. Yeah, maybe you're right." A grin spread across the blue paladin's face as he stood up. "Thanks Shiro!"

As he watched the teen leave, Shiro allowed himself a small grin. Good. He must be doing something right as a leader, if Lance felt comfortable enough to come to him with a problem. That had been one of his primary concerns when he became the de facto leader of the little group. He'd never had experience leading. Well, not really. He'd done group exercises that worked out well, he'd never had a problem with that. It was having to lead teenagers that threw him off. Plus, he had his own brother to boss around. Even if that was the dream of many older brothers, it wasn't his. But it seemed like he was doing pretty well, all things considering. He hadn't even threatened Lance about treating his brother well.

Another knock at the door startled him. "Come in." It was typical that Lance had decided to come back, he – "Keith?"

"Can I talk to you?" He stood awkwardly in the doorway, his teeth worrying his lower lip. "Like my brother? Not as the team leader?"

"You know you can always talk to me. Come sit down." Shiro sat back up as his brother tentatively settled himself on the bed. "What's bothering you?"

"It's…it's Lance." Mistaking the raised eyebrows betraying Shiro's surprise, Keith plowed on, a blush spreading across his cheeks. "I think…I think I like him, but I don't know if he likes me back at all."

"What do you mean?" It was all Shiro could do to not start laughing. What were the odds that he should have to talk to both teens in one night about their feelings for each other?

"He's always bugging me and stuff. I know you said when I was younger that that's how kids show they like each other, but do adults do that too?" His brother looked so forlorn and confused, a look completely unlike him. "He's always on top of me in the training room, always making me crazy that I'm pushing myself too hard – "

"You do, Keith. You get injured more often than anyone else on the ship. I think you get more injured in your _trainings_ than you do in battle."

Keith shrugged that one off. "He keeps trying to pry and get information about my life out of me and he won't stop even when I say no. But I don't know what to do!"

"Have you thought about making the first move?" Shiro asked. At Keith's confused expression, he continued, "Maybe ask him out?"

"No."

"Think about it. You can ask, and you'll know for sure if he likes you." He leaned back against the headboard and motioned for his brother to move to sit beside him, which he did. "Or you can ask him straight out if he likes you, or tell him you like him – "

"Shiro…" Keith leaned against his arm, his metal arm, and let out a sigh of frustration. "I don't know what to do. I don't like this."

"I know you don't." Wrapping his arm around his brother, Shiro squeezed him gently. "But if he's not showing you, or you don't realize he's trying to tell you indirectly, you'll have to tell him your feelings."

"But I don't want to."

Shiro sighed and ran his free hand through his white forelock. "I can't give you any advice other than that. You have to help yourself in this, Keith. I can't do it for you."

"I know that." He crossed his arms and huffed. "Doesn't mean I can't want you to do it. Can I stay in here for a bit?"

"You can stay as long as you like. You know that."

As Shiro figured would happen, Keith wound up falling asleep nestled against his arm. He'd done that quite often as a child, and there was no reason to think a year apart would make all that much of a difference.

It was funny, he reflected to himself. Both teens, one outgoing, one more quiet, coming to him for advice on the same topic: their feelings for each other. He'd never seen himself as someone who could give romantic advice, but it seemed as if they thought he knew what was up. He felt that his advice was decent: all they had to do was tell each other how they felt. It wouldn't be easy. Well, maybe for Lance it would be, but Keith couldn't do that.

Only time would tell what the two of them did, and Shiro was looking forward to finding out.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Here's the next chapter! I'm finding that I just get the urge to write these characters. Oh, and Pidge is totally writing herself - I have no idea where she came from. This is a bit shorter than the last one, as will be the next. Just the way it worked out!

Thanks to everyone who favorited, followed, and reviewed this story!

Enjoy!

* * *

Shiro stifled a groan as Pidge dropped into the seat beside him. "What now, Pidge?" he asked wearily. Considering the last time his best friend's little sister had sat down beside him ended in her threatening him bodily harm, he felt he had every right to worry.

"Nothing. Well, nothing bad." She shifted so that he could see her screen. "I just figured you'd like to see this."

"What am I – wait, did you hack into the ship's cameras?" Seeing her guilty look, he did groan. "Pidge, privacy. There's little enough of it on the ship with just us. Respect what little privacy we do have."

She pouted. "I've been working on hacking the feed since we boarded – "

"And it took you this long?"

"Shut up. I first had to learn the language and once I did, I had to deal with Coran putting up firewalls. Plus we had all those fights." The girl pointed to the screen. "Last week I saw Lance and Keith go talk to you and – "

Shiro fixed her with a glare. "Just how long have you had access?"

"Couple of months? I don't remember exactly…" Shaking her head, Pidge tried to bring his attention back to the screen. "Anyway. I know Lance and Keith went to talk to you last week. Right now they're training, which means they'll have to shower afterwards, and you know they'll talk then. It's the first time they've been alone since they spoke to you."

"Pidge, you can't – why are you watching cameras in the changing room?" Shiro sent a silent apology to Matt, wherever he was, for allowing his sister to be exposed to all of this. "That's the men's changing room!"

She gave him an odd look. "You realize I was at the Garrison for nearly a year as a guy, right? I've seen Lance and Hunk, even Keith – "

"Never mind. I don't want to know."

"I think what you should be asking is why there are even cameras in the changing room. Someone should talk to Coran about that." Tapping the screen with her index finger, she enlarged one of the feeds. "Aren't you the least bit curious to see what they're going to say?"

"No!" Seeing her raised eyebrows, Shiro sighed. "Fine, maybe a bit."

"Great! Hunk, Shiro says it's okay to watch!" Pidge called over her shoulder.

Hunk came out from behind the doorway of the closet with Altean board games (how he'd fit in there, Shiro had no idea). "I don't know, Pidge…"

"Come on! You two let those pesky morals get in the way of doing anything fun." She moved closer to Shiro and patted the couch cushion beside her. "Here. Sit. I told Coran to bring popcorn. Should be interesting to see what he shows up with."

"Wait, just how many – " Shiro began. He was interrupted by the door sliding open, allowing Coran and Allura into the room. "Pidge…"

"Pidge said there was something interesting to watch?" Allura called pleasantly. "Lance and Keith talking to each other?"

"Look, everyone deserves to have some privacy, including Keith and Lance. Especially Keith and Lance, in this situation." Shiro looked around the group, meeting everyone's gaze. "We can watch a movie or something instead."

There was a moment of silence as the other four thought over his words. "Yeah, nope. Not happening." Pidge flicked her finger upwards, sending her screen to project on the wall. "There we go. Movie style. Coran, popcorn."

"Here you go." The orange mustached man passed her the white bowl he'd come in with.

Shiro looked into the bowl as it was passed in front of him. "What is that?"

"It's popcorn! Pidge said it was white and fluffy!" Coran gave a proud smile that had the three Earthlings cringing. "This is what we used to eat in Altea when watching plays in the park."

"Yes, I remember eating it with father in the garden as well." Allura sat down beside Shiro and took a handful of the 'popcorn' from the bowl. "It brings back such memories…"

"Well…sounds great. But it's starting!" Pidge exclaimed. The bowl of 'popcorn' lay forgotten in Hunk's lap as Keith and Lance headed to the changing room.

Keith pulled off his sweaty shirt and wiped his face, studiously avoiding meeting Lance's gaze. No matter what Shiro said, admitting to Lance that he liked him wasn't the best idea. It wasn't even a good idea. There was no way he was going to be vulnerable like that in front of the loudmouth Cuban.

He threw the black shirt into the laundry chute and grabbed a change of clothes and a towel before heading to the showers. "Keith, wait!" Lance called after him.

"What? You want to join me?" He regretted the words as soon as they'd left his mouth, but it was too late to take them back. A blush spread across his face. "I – I mean – "

Lance gave him that annoying half-smirk, half-grin. "You want me to join you?"

"I – " Keith pressed the heel of his palm to his forehead, trying to get his brain to work properly. He'd been feeling off since the beginning of the day, and it hadn't gotten any better as the day went on. "No, that's not what I meant, I – "

"Everything okay, man?" Taking a step closer, Lance reached out to touch Keith's forehead. "You don't look too hot."

Keith looked up at him, gray eyes blurry. "Huh? Are you – are you flirting with me?"

"No, you idiot, I'm trying to make sure you're okay!" The blue paladin pushed him until he was seated on a bench. "Your face is all flushed and you're shivering! Are you sick?"

"No, I'm fine. I just need to shower." He tried to get up, but Lance shoved him back down on the bench. "Lance! Let me go!"

"You're not going anywhere! Well, you are, but not the shower." Wrapping an arm around the other teen's bare shoulders, Lance helped him to his feet. "Let's get you back to your room."

"I told you, I'm fine!" Keith shoved Lance's arm from his shoulders, somehow managing to find the strength to do it successfully. "I'm – "

The last thing he remembered was the floor coming up to meet him and Lance's shout of alarm.

Shiro crossed his arms and leaned against the wall in Keith's room. "Are you sure you can't just shove him in a cryopod and make him heal?" Lance asked Coran for what felt like the millionth time.

"As I keep telling you, the healing pods help with an injury. They don't work on illnesses, much less human illnesses." Coran looked down at the red paladin, who still hadn't regained consciousness. "Although I don't quite know how he could have become ill, seeing as none of you have had contact with any other humans."

"He's part Galra, can that have something to do with it?" Pidge asked.

"I suppose so. It's time to let him rest and regain his strength." Allura rested her hand on Lance's shoulder. "Even you, Lance."

"Wh-what? Of course I know that means me too." Lance's face was tinged a pale pink. "I just…give me a minute."

"One minute. Shiro, you stay with Keith until he gets up." Coran, Allura, Hunk and Pidge left the room, leaving Shiro and Lance with Keith.

"I was going to tell him, you know," Lance said quietly.

"Going to tell him what?"

"I was going to tell him I loved him. Or at least, liked him." Sitting on the edge of the bed, he wet the cloth resting on Keith's forehead and replaced it. "But then he had to go and get sick."

"I'm sure he'd rather you tell him that than be sick." Shiro patted Lance's shoulder gently. "Go shower and eat something. You look exhausted and you stink."

"Gee, thanks." Nevertheless, Lance stood up and started for the door. A foot away from the door, he paused. "Wait. How do you know that Keith would rather me tell him I love him than be sick?"

Shiro cursed silently. "I don't know. I'm just assuming."

"Oh. Okay."

As soon as Lance left, Shiro took his place on the bed. "Come on, Keith, wake up. You messed things up for yourself and Lance." Keith just mumbled in his sleep and rolled over.

"Next time, kid. Next time he'll tell you how he feels," Shiro told him quietly.

Or at least, he hoped it would work out next time. He didn't think he could handle another of Pidge's schemes otherwise.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** Hey all! Here is the next installment of Tales from the Sounding Board!

I know that I've been focusing on Keith/Lance, but I've been debating...Since this focuses on Shiro as the "sounding board", I want to write him giving advice to other people. Pidge, for one. Opinions?

Thank you to everyone who reviewed, favorited, and followed!

Enjoy!

* * *

Shiro looked up as Hunk crashed down beside him on the sofa with an enormous bowl of popcorn. "What are you - no," he said shortly.

Hunk adopted a fake-hurt look. "What? I just want to watch something. Maybe there's some good alien TV on."

"I know that's not what you're doing." Seeing Pidge enter the room, closely followed by Coran and Allura, Shiro sighed. "We are not watching Lance and Keith. It's rude, and an invasion of privacy. I'm sure there's something much more interesting."

"Nah, not being able to understand TV shows kind of takes away from the fun of watching them," Pidge commented. She draped herself across Shiro and Hunk, flicking a hand towards the screens as she did so. "Plus, Lance and Keith _are_ much more interesting."

"Yes, Coran and I have been asleep so long they don't even show reruns of shows we used to watch." Allura sat down in front of the couch, leaning against Shiro's legs. "Anyway. I think it is very important for me to determine how well my paladins are getting on with each other. I must keep track of the 'state of the union', as it were."

Shiro fixed Pidge with a stern look. "I told you not to spend all your time watching old movies. Or bootlegging them."

"It's not a movie! It's the United States, and - "

"Shush! Your camera found them!" Hunk interrupted.

"Your - Pidge, did you set a camera to follow them around?!"

The girl shrugged, not apologetic in the least. "I think one of them may have figured out that I hacked into the cameras and told the other one. What choice did I have?"

Shiro felt it was prudent to not enlighten her that it had been him that had informed both parties in question of the camera hack.

"It seems they're in the training room again," Allura commented. "I do hope Keith doesn't collapse again."

"I spoke to him about that. He won't do it again." Shiro shifted Pidge's legs to a more comfortable position, if such a thing were possible. "I think it freaked Lance out too. He's been very mother hen-ish lately."

"Good. Someone has to keep that boy in shape." Reaching for Hunk's bowl of popcorn, Coran turned to face the screen. "Wait...what are they doing?"

Pidge abruptly jumped off Shiro's legs, kicking him in the process. "I think the gladiator malfunctioned!"

 **VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

The morning had begun badly for Keith. First, he'd accidentally smacked his head into the wall of his bed, forgetting that he _had_ a bed and not just a couch in a shack in the desert. Once he'd finally gotten over that trauma, he had discovered that his clothes had gone missing somehow, and had had to go searching for something to wear. That something had turned into a spare set of Lance's clothes (apparently, the castle could only re-create things it knew. So, no clothes other than what they had come in with), since Lance was the closest to his size. Pidge was too short, Hunk was built completely differently, and Shiro was much broader. Now he was stuck matching Lance. Which normally would not have been a bad thing, but their half-there relationship had been weird lately. Lance wouldn't look at him at all, and Keith didn't know why.

Breakfast had been just as bad. Hunk had decided to experiment with alien foodstuffs again, and for once, it had turned out awful. The other six people on the ship had gotten to the food before him, and all that was left was the dry cereal that never, ever, became any softer. Allura had regretfully informed him that there was nothing she could do - it would take the castle several hours to manufacture more food, as that was not a priority. He'd wound up sticking to the alien coffee hanging around the kitchen, which had tasted awful.

He figured his day would start looking up once he headed over to the training deck. No such luck.

"What are you doing here?" he asked Lance bluntly.

The blue paladin simply stared at him. "I live here too. I can use the training deck."

"You know I always come here at this time every day. Why are you following me?" Internally, Keith was shouting at himself. He _liked_ Lance. Why was he shooting himself in the foot? According to Shiro, he always did that, but he'd never really noticed it until now. "Can't you find some other time to train?"

"I can, but then you might get yourself killed!" Lance shouted back. "You nearly killed yourself of exhaustion last week! Why would I let you train yourself?"

"We're all adults! I think I can train on my own!"

"No, you're a foolhardy idiot who can't take care of himself!" The blue paladin's face was flushed. "And yes, I heard Shiro yelling at you."

Keith rolled his eyes and headed over to the gladiator. "I'm training. Don't interfere."

"If you look like you're about to collapse, then yeah, I'm going to interfere." Lance sat himself down on a bench at the side of the room and crossed his arms. "Go ahead."

Giving the other paladin a glare, Keith did just that.

 **VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

The pair took turns over the course of the day. Lance refused to allow Keith to train for more than half an hour at a time, instead forcing him to take a break. Neither of them noticed the camera hanging around in the corner of the room.

Finally, it was beginning to reach the point where they were both making simple mistakes, and Lance called for the gladiator to stop. Only...it didn't.

"What did you do, mullet-head?" Lance shouted, carefully aiming for the gladiator's head.

Keith bristled. "I didn't do anything! You're the one who sparred last!"

"Yeah, well, I didn't do anything, so it must have been you!" Ducking the gladiator's sharp sword, Lance rolled across the floor and popped up back-to-back with the red paladin. "What setting is it on?"

"Again, you were the last one to use it, how would I know?!"

Lance's face turned pale. "I set it to level eight."

"You - " Keith dodged the gladiator's swing and attempted to land his own. "I didn't know you were able to fight at that high of a level!"

"Gee, thanks! I'm not sure if I should feel honored or insulted, but I'm leaning towards insulted!" The blue paladin swiped a hand across his forehead, trying to get the sweat out of his eyes. "Watch your back!"

"Thanks."

 **VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

The pair finally made it behind a bench, which offered some protection from the gladiator. "What now?" Lance asked, panting.

Keith ran a hand through his sweaty hair, trying to think. "I'm...I'm not sure. Last time it malfunctioned we were able to send it out through the airlock, but I don't think we can do that again."

"We really have to get Pidge to take a look at it. This keeps happening." Lance shifted, his hand now uncomfortably close to Keith's. "I have an idea. I'll distract it, you hit the panel on the back of its head."

"No, Lance, you're going to get yourself - " Keith sighed. "Killed."

Lance darted out from behind the bench, waving his gun in the air. "Yo! Ugly!"

Keith watched with fear as the gladiator turned to face the other paladin. He quickly pulled his hair into a short ponytail in an attempt to keep it out of his face. Taking a deep breath, he snuck out and tiptoed towards the gladiator, putting all thought of Lance out of his mind. There was no reason to waste Lance's distraction, and he really had to concentrate.

On the other side of the gladiator, Lance was fighting for his life. His gun wasn't much use in a close-quartered fight, and it was all he could do to dodge the gladiator's swings. He caught a glimpse of Keith and his breath caught in his throat. Having his hair back made Keith more attractive - not that he dislike the mullet, despite all his complaints to the contrary. Lance shook his head to try to clear it. He had to concentrate now. This was the only way to attempt to get the two of them out of here in one piece.

Keeping behind the gladiator was proving to be easier said than done. Keith bit his lip to keep from exclaiming his frustration. Lifting his sword a touch, he watched closely as the gladiator approached Lance. He would only have one chance and he couldn't waste it. This was their only chance.

As soon as the gladiator took a step inside the mental perimeter Keith had drawn around it, he struck. He launched himself towards the robot, his sword hitting just the right spot on its back. The gladiator collapsed as though its strings were cut and Keith held himself back from shouting in victory. It was only then that he realized he'd been just seconds too late. "Lance!"

The other paladin sat on the ground, his hands wrapped around his ankle. "I'm fine, mullet head," he said, a pained smile spreading itself across his face.

"No, you're not." Keith knelt down beside him, setting his bayard on the floor. "What happened?"

"The gladiator just tripped me a bit. No big deal." Despite his words, Lance's eyes squinted in pain as Keith ran gentle hands along his leg. "Look, I just need a bit of help getting over to the pods - "

The doors to the training room slid open and the other five inhabitants of the castle tumbled in. "Are you okay?" Shiro asked above Pidge and Hunk's worried voices.

"I think he broke his ankle." Keith turned to face his brother, concern etched across his face. "The gladiator went berserk."

"Yeah, we saw - " Hunk fell silent as Pidge dug a sharp elbow into his side. "We figured."

Keith's gaze narrowed, but he chose to ignore the slip, instead focusing his attention back on Lance. "Can you stand?"

"If you help me, I think I can." Lance grabbed Keith's hand and the red paladin helped pull him to his feet - well, foot.

"Let's get to the healing pods. There's no reason for you to be in pain for longer than you need to." Wrapping an arm around Lance's Keith-free side, Shiro pointed them in the direction of the door.

 **VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

Keith rested his elbows on his crossed knees, anxiously watching Lance asleep in his pod. The sound of metal scraping against metal made him look to the side. "What, Shiro?"

His brother folded himself on the ground beside him. "He wouldn't want you to worry about him this much."

"I shouldn't have let him hurt himself like that. He shouldn't have been the distraction. I should've." Dropping his head into his hands, he groaned. "I had the close-range weapon, I should've been the distraction and him the sharpshooter."

"There are plenty of could've's, should've's, and would've's. But you two did the best you could under the circumstances and you can't beat yourself up about it." Shiro slid a finger beneath his brother's chin, forcing him to look up. "You have to tell him how you feel."

"I can't."

"You can. And you have to. I know you think you can live without having relationships to anyone, but you can't. He likes you, Keith. And I know you like him back." Fixing him with a stern look, Shiro continued, "You have to tell him."

"Tell me what?" Both brothers looked up to see that Lance had dropped from the pod and was now standing in front of them. "Seriously, what do you have to tell me?"

"N-nothing. It's nothing." Keith shot his brother a glare warning him to keep his mouth shut. "Are you okay?"

"Yep, good as new!" Lance wiggled his foot before stopping to stand in front of the red paladin. "Now what were you going to tell me?"

"I told you, nothing!"

"It wasn't nothing, you're all nervous!"

"You can't tell when I'm nervous!"

"Yes I can! You -"

Shiro decided that enough was enough. If these two wouldn't figure things out on their own, it seemed like he would have to force them to get moving. "You two -"

"Lance! You're awake!" Allura raced into the room, the others hot on her heels. "How's your ankle?"

"Good as new," Lance replied absently. His gaze was still glued to Keith's face.

Pidge opened her mouth, presumably to make a comment about Lance's lack of flirting, but Shiro's hand on her shoulder made her rethink the comment. "Are you hungry?"

"Yeah, I could go for some food." Tearing his eyes from the red paladin, Lance headed in the direction of the door. "Coming, Keith?"

Keith's eyes widened. "Um...sure."

"Let's all go!" Hunk exclaimed. He didn't seem to see the annoyed expression on Lance's face.

 **VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

Shiro watched as the group trooped out of the room. Yet again, the blue and red paladins had somehow been prevented from finally, _finally_ , having a real discussion. But maybe there was hope. He thought he'd possibly gotten through to Keith about confessing to Lance, but he would have to keep an eye on that.

Only time would tell what would happen.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:** Hey all! It's been a month, but I finally have the next chapter all done! I participated in Camp NaNoWriMo this month and wrote a children's book - 25,000 words. So I kind of neglected my fan fictions...But here it is! It turned into a monster of a chapter...

Thank you so much to everyone who favorited, followed, and reviewed!

Enjoy!

* * *

The day seemed to start normally. Shiro woke up early, as usual. The nightmares from being captured by the Galra for a year did not let him sleep very much. He went out to the common area where the group ate meals together, expecting, as usual, that he would be the only one awake so early.

To his surprise he found Keith already seated at the table, his head buried in his arms. "Morning," Shiro called quietly, not wanting to wake his brother if he had fallen asleep.

"I'm happy you didn't say 'good', otherwise I'd have to punch you," came the muffled reply.

Shiro chuckled and rubbed the back of the red paladin's neck. "Why are you up so early? You're never up before me."

"Wanted to talk to you." Keith finally raised his head and ran a hand through his unruly hair. "I didn't want an audience and I figured Pidge wouldn't be awake to watch us on the cameras."

"She probably keeps a copy of the tapes anyway." Shiro sighed and shook his head. "I've tried speaking to her, she just doesn't listen. What did you want to talk to me about?"

"I - " His brother's face turned red. "Whashdisatance?"

"A little slower, please? I can't understand you when you talk that fast." But Shiro had a sneaking suspicion that he knew what Keith wanted to say. The next words out of Keith's mouth confirmed his hypothesis.

Keith took a deep breath and repeated, his face blushing even more, "What should I say to Lance?"

"I can't tell you. You like him; only you know your feelings." He rested a hand on top of Keith's. "I know you'll figure it out."

"You're the one who told me to do it. Why can't you just tell me what to say?" Keith's head dropped down to rest on his arms again, making Shiro grin softly. No matter how long they'd been apart, his brother was still not a morning person.

"Because _I'm_ not the one with feelings for Lance," Shiro told him, stroking his human hand through his brother's dark hair. "You are."

"Yeah, I know, you prefer Allura."

Shiro's hand paused for a moment before continuing to stroke Keith's hair. "What?!"

"Everyone knows you like Allura." Keith let out a quiet sigh of contentment. "Keep doing that."

"Keith, you are not a dog and I am not scratching your neck." Shiro's fingers stilled as he remembered what Keith had just said. "Why is it that nothing stays secret on this ship?"

Keith raised his head from his arms again. "It's not much of a secret. All anyone has to do is look at you to figure it out. We all spend a lot of time together"

"Oh." Shiro felt himself turn pink. If his socially ignorant brother could figure out that he liked Allura, then maybe he was being too obvious with his feelings. "But back to your problem. You need to figure out what you want to say to Lance on your own. They're your feelings, not mine."

"But every time I try to talk to him he turns it into a joke!" Keith sprang to his feet, suddenly completely awake. "I can't get him to be serious about anything. Whenever I try, he gets upset with me."

"You also blow up at him over the slightest thing, too," Shiro pointed out calmly. "I think you _both_ need to learn to control yourselves. He baits you and jokes around over everything, but you get upset if he so much as looks at you the wrong way."

His brother took a deep breath, as though to protest, but then deflated. "You're right." He dropped back into his chair to his former position with his head down. "I'm awful."

Shiro resisted the urge to groan loudly. Sometimes, it drove him crazy that his brother took everything to heart. That was probably one of the problems he was having with Lance. The blue paladin had a habit of making flippant comments that he didn't really mean. Keith always took them seriously and assumed that Lance was making fun of him. "No you're not. You're just a normal teenager. I said that you and Lance both need to get it together and I meant it. He usually winds up going to the pool just before lunch. Why don't you join him and see if everything will work out?"

"Because I don't swim?"

"Yes you do."

Keith picked his head up and shook it. "I don't. I haven't in years."

"But you know how."

"Yeah..."

Shiro spread his hands. "Then what's your problem? Go swim with him. You don't forget how to swim. Maybe being in his comfort zone will keep Lance from turning everything into a joke."

"Maybe you're right." Keith propped his chin on his hands and stared at the table. "Is there anything for breakfast?"

"Good morning paladins!" Coran entered the room loudly, like he did most mornings. Seeing Keith sitting at the table, he paused. "Number four. What are you doing awake already?"

"I...decided to get up early?" The red paladin stood up. "I'm going to go train."

"No, you are not. You are going to eat breakfast first," Shiro said, grasping Keith's wrist. "You passed out once, you're not doing that again. Sit and eat, and then you can go do what you want."

Keith looked as though he wanted to protest, but shook his head and just sat back down. "Fine. What's for breakfast?"

Out of the corner of his eye, Shiro caught sight of Lance hovering beside the doorway. He was willing to bet that the blue paladin had heard every word. Good. Maybe then these two would finally figure out their feelings.

 **VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

Lance's eyebrows shot up as Keith entered the pool area. The red paladin rarely swam, especially after they'd met up going to the pool when Coran had had to repair the teleduv. "What are you doing here?" he asked.

Keith immediately bristled, making Lance sigh internally. It seemed that no matter what he said, he ticked off Keith. It didn't matter if he was trying to joke around or even just make a stupid comment. Everything he said drove the red paladin crazy. "I'm a paladin on this castle ship just like you. I can swim if I want to," Keith retorted hotly. "It shouldn't make a difference to you."

"I was just asking! Jeez, can't you loosen up a little." Lance swam over to the side of the pool and leaned his arms over the side. "I don't care if you swim here."

"You'd better not." Setting his towel on the side, Keith dove into the pool, entering the water with barely a splash. "Just stay on your side of the pool and I'll stay on mine."

Swimming to the middle of the pool, Lance treaded water beside Keith. "Is that really necessary? I mean, we had that bonding moment earlier in the week with the gladiator, when you were all worried about my ankle and stuff."

"Nope, don't remember, didn't happen." Keith immediately swam to the other side.

Lance gritted his teeth and swam after him. He was not letting Keith get away without talking this time. Not after what he'd overheard earlier this morning. "Come on! I apologized for that! I really didn't remember. I was half dead, okay?!"

"What does it even matter to you? Just leave me alone, alright? You do your thing, I'll do mine, and we don't have to have anything to do with each other." Turning around, Keith swam away, leaving Lance behind.

"For goodness – Keith!" Lance swam over to the other paladin. Since he had much more swimming experience, he managed to overtake him quickly. "I've been trying to talk to you for days and you won't listen to me. You either walk away or get all annoyed with me. Or both."

"Can't you take a hint, then?" Letting out an annoyed grunt, Keith made his way over to the ladder and climbed out of the pool. "Just leave me alone already. I'm tired of having to deal with you."

"What are you talking about?!" Lance exclaimed. Now he was angry. Ever since he'd spoken to Shiro he'd been trying so hard to get along with the other paladin. He didn't joke around anymore or say things designed to annoy him. But now Keith was saying that he was tired of dealing with Lance? "I've been great. I haven't made fun of your hair at all. I've been trying to be nice. What more do you want?!"

Keith slung his towel around his shoulders and gave him an angry glare. "I want you to stop it already. Nothing you do will change my opinion at you." With that, he stalked out of the room, leaving a speechless Lance behind.

 **VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

Keith stormed into his room and collapsed onto the bed, hiding his head in his hands. He was stupid. He was completely, totally stupid. All Lance had been trying to do was exactly what he'd wanted: to talk. Lance was right; he'd been so much better than usual. It was mostly that Keith was expecting the worst of him.

He changed and lay back down on his bed, taking a tablet Coran had given him earlier. Flipping idly through the books on the tablet, he found himself thinking over the exchange at the pool and felt himself begin to turn red. Lance had been better than usual. Completely normal, even. He was just an idiot who couldn't see that.

His musings were interrupted by the sound of the door opening. The next thing he knew, Shiro was standing over him. "What were you thinking?!" Shiro asked him. He looked angry, angrier than Keith had ever seen him.

"What are you talking about?" Sitting up, Keith set the tablet on the bedside table in an effort to avoid his brother's steely gaze.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about: Lance." Shiro slid a finger beneath his chin and tilted his head up. "He's very upset, and you need to go apologize."

"What do you even know about what happened?" Keith shot back. "How do you know that Lance didn't do anything?"

Shiro sighed. "Because I was watching you two on the cameras to make sure neither of you drowned the other one."

Keith's mouth opened and closed before he eloquently replied, "Oh."

"Yes, oh. I saw what happened, and you're the one who overreacted this time." He rested a hand on Keith's shoulder. "You need to relax. Lance was right. You need to loosen up a little."

"I know. It's just that everything he says sounds like he's accusing me of something." Keith pulled his knees to his chest and dropped his head on them. "I'm an idiot. He's never going to listen to anything I say ever again. Not after this."

"He will. You're just going to have to give him time to get over it. You were rather nasty to him for no reason," Shiro said quietly. "I know you think that Lance has a thick skin, but he's still a person with feelings. The same way it bothers you when he makes fun of you and deliberately misinterprets what you're trying to say, it bothers him as well."

"But what do I do now?" His voice broke, but he didn't care. This had been going on for too long and he just hoped he hadn't completely wrecked his chances with the blue paladin.

Shiro rubbed his shoulder. "You're going to give him some time to calm down and then apologize to him. Meanwhile, you're going to start training yourself to have a lot more patience. Maybe then you and Lance will stop butting heads as much."

"Maybe." Keith sighed and lifted his head. If Shiro thought there was still a chance, maybe there was. "Thanks, Shiro."

"Just trying to keep this team together." His brother ruffled his hair once and stood up. "I'm going to go see if Lance needs someone to talk to. He looked upset when he passed me in the hall."

"I thought you said you were watching us on the cameras?"

"I was. But he also passed me, and I'm not completely sure if his face was wet from the pool or from crying." Shiro started for the door and paused. "I hope for your sake that it was from the pool."

Keith watched as his brother left the room and bit his lip. He hoped so, too.

 **VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

Lance glared at the wall angrily. He was so done with the red paladin already. Nothing he ever did was good enough. Everything he said was interpreted as a problem. So as far as Keith went, he didn't care anymore. Let him drop – no, that wasn't true. He still had feelings for him, even if it was completely obvious that Keith would never return those feelings. He would just have to shove them down far enough that it wouldn't affect his bond with the other paladins, and by extension, forming Voltron. Whatever he thought he'd overheard earlier in the day was obviously completely wrong, because there was no way Keith had any feelings for him.

He sat up at the sound of a knock on his door. "Come in," he called, hoping against hope that it was Keith.

To his disappointment, it was Shiro. "Oh. Hey Shiro. What's up?"

"I wanted to talk to you," the black paladin replied, walking over to the bed. "Mind if I sit?"

"Nope, sure, go ahead." Lance scooted backwards to make room. "What did you want to talk about?"

"What happened earlier at the pool." Shiro held up his Galra hand as Lance began to speak. "I happened to have passed Pidge's computer and saw what was going on. What Keith did was unwarranted. Are you okay?"

Lance's mouth dropped open. "You're not taking Keith's side in this?"

"He's in the wrong. Why would I take his side?"

"Because...because he's your brother!" Lance exclaimed. "Shouldn't you always take your brother's side of things?"

Shiro shook his head. "Not if he's being an idiot. Yes, you did sound like you were upset when you asked what he was doing at the pool, but he shouldn't have gotten so upset with you like that. But I didn't come here to talk about Keith. I came to see how you're doing. He said some pretty mean things to you."

Lance shrugged, trying to hide the tears that pricked the corners of his eyes. "It's fine. That's just how Keith is. Everything I say bothers him. He doesn't like it when things aren't serious."

"Well..." Shiro's brow furrowed. "I don't know if I should tell you this. Technically, it's a bit personal and Keith should be the one to say something..."

"I won't tell him you told me and I won't tease him or anything like that," Lance said quickly. "You can tell me."

"It's...I just want to make sure you know, this isn't an excuse or something, merely an explanation as to why Keith is always so quick to get upset with you." Shiro shifted into a more comfortable position before continuing, "Keith...isn't exactly my brother. He's actually my half-brother, via my father. Our father. He wasn't...faithful to my mother, and Keith is the result of that. My father never knew about him until Keith was around nine or ten. His mother died then and he was being bounced from foster home to foster home until someone found a record stating that my father is his father as well. Then he came to live with us."

Lance's eyes widened. "Your mother was okay with that?"

"My mother has a bad temper, but even she recognized that it wasn't his fault. She wasn't going to leave a ten-year-old to the foster care system. My father, she was angry with. But Keith...she treated him as though he were her own son. She likes to joke that he's more her son than I am, what with his temper." Running a hand through the white section of his hair, Shiro sighed. "But he still knew that our father didn't want him and I don't think he really got over that. He was forced to grow up a lot sooner than most kids. He's always had trouble getting along with people and nearly got kicked out of school multiple times. I tried to be as good a brother as I could be, but..."

"I'm sure you were fine, Shiro. Keith doesn't seem to be too bad." In fact, after hearing about Keith's childhood, Lance wasn't as upset over his words. The red paladin probably didn't trust anyone at all, not after his own father rejected him. "Maybe...I'll try to talk to him again. I guess I can see where he's coming from now."

Shiro shook his head. "He shouldn't have said what he did to you. No matter what he's been through and had to deal with."

"Still. I know more about him." Lance gave Shiro a bright grin, his mood restored. "Thanks, Shiro. That really helped."

"But Lance, I - "

Lance bounced off his bed and headed to the door. "I'm going to go find Keith now. Thanks again!"

 **VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

He found Keith standing in front of one of the windows looking out into space. "Hey," he called quietly, not wanting to startle him.

Despite his efforts, Keith jumped and turned around, his face red. "Oh. Hey."

"I spoke to Shiro." Lance came up to stand beside him and looked outside. "It really puts things in perspective, doesn't it?"

"What do you mean?"

Lance motioned outside. "Seeing all those galaxies. We're really just one tiny space ship floating around. No matter what happens with Zarkon and the Galra, the world will continue to exist."

"What's put you in such a deep mood?" Keith asked, giving him a sidelong glance as he turned back to the window. "You're usually more…"

"Flippant?" Lance offered. "I know. I think I get why you don't like it when I joke around now."

Keith let out a quiet sigh, turned around, and slid down the window to sit against it. "Shiro didn't just talk to you about what I said, did he?"

"Erm…" As he sat down beside the red paladin, Lance suddenly remembered that he'd told Shiro he wouldn't let Keith know who had told him about his childhood. "I'm not supposed to say anything…"

"It's fine. Shiro must have had a reason for telling you." Drawing up one knee to his chest, Keith leaned his chin on it. "I don't blame him."

"Wait, you're okay with it?"

"Sure. I trust Shiro. If he felt he should tell you, I guess he must've had a reason," Keith answered quietly. "I wanted to apologize. I shouldn't have gotten upset with you like that. You weren't trying to start up with me."

Lance laughed bitterly and leaned his head against the wall. "I owe you an apology, too. I know I treat everything as a joke, but it's just because it's easier to joke about something than to worry so much about it. I didn't know why you always got upset with me for it. And I guess I can't blame you for thinking I was trying to start up with you. I always wind up baiting you for no real reason. So I guess I'm sorry too."

"We're both to blame." Keith ran a hand through his bangs, brushing them out of his face. "Can we just start over? None of that rivalry stupidity or anything like that."

"Sure." Turning to face the red paladin, Lance stuck out a hand. "Hi, I'm Lance. And you are…?"

Keith wrinkled his nose and stared at the proffered hand. "What?"

"You said you wanted us to start over," Lance explained impatiently. "So, here's us starting over."

"Oh." Keith grasped the blue paladin's hand in his own. "I'm Keith."

 **VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

On the other side of the castle ship, Pidge sat in front of her computer, munching on popcorn. "Pidge, what are you watching?" Shiro asked from behind her.

Pidge yelped and reached to shut off the screen, but Shiro just sighed and sat down beside her. "Lance and Keith, right?"

"Yeah. They've made up," she answered, trying to get her heart to stop racing. "Quit sneaking up on me like that!"

"You're spying on two of the paladins. I don't think you can reprimand me for walking into a room." Shiro felt a smile begin to spread across his face. "It looks like they've worked things out. They're not arguing, at least."

"They apologized to each other and talked about something about Keith's childhood?" Pidge fixed him with a stern look. "You need to share that information with the rest of us, too."

Shiro shook his head. "It's up to Keith whether he wants to tell you and Hunk. I only told Lance because I thought that it would help him understand Keith a little better, since they had so many problems. You can take it up with Keith himself if you really want to know."

"I thought you'd say that. I can't even watch the files because Coran took the cameras offline for maintenance when you spoke to Lance," Pidge complained. She propped her chin on her hand and stared at the screen. "But I guess it'll be nice to not have to deal with those two idiots fighting all the time."

"Yeah…" Shiro stood up and started for the door. Maybe, just maybe, Lance and Keith would figure out their differences and finally start opening up to each other.

Maybe it was time to ask Allura about relationships between paladins. He had a feeling that that would be applicable in the near future.

* * *

 **A/N:** And that nearly concludes this portion of the story! I'm still debating - should I keep writing short stories for this little universe here, or should I write them as separate stories from other points of view?


End file.
